LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Noel GOODRIDGE
Service No: 410839
Born: Carlton VIC, 27 June 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 February 1942
Unit: No. 15 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mildenhall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 15 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL889), France, 15 June 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Fecamp (Le Val Aux Clercs) Communal Cemetery, Seine-Maritime, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry Vivian and Minnie Phillipa Goodridge, of Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Red Cliffs VIC
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2331 hours on 14 June 1944 Lancaster LL889 took off from Mildenhall to bomb Le Havre, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base.
The crew members of LL889 were:
Sergeant Christopher Felix Cantwell (1493381) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant R H Gilleade (1529488) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) Evaded capture
Pilot Officer Noel Goodridge (410839) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Lowry Nixon (1796296) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Leonard Purry (425099) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald John Rolfe (1850207) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer James Kenneth Weir (133093) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Gilleade who survived the crash later stated “the aircraft was hit apparently by a rocket, when crossing the coast on the return journey from Le Havre at 7,000 feet. The pilot advised the controls were unserviceable, the aircraft was on fire and he immediately instructed the crew to abandon the aircraft. Gilleade remembers nothing further until he landed on the ground and had no details on the fate of any other member of the crew.”
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/16/356